Witchcraft and Pop Culture: A Love Affair on the Silver Screen by Chris na Scheiman
In the United States, the concept of witches living among us is as old as our very na on. The Salem witch trials are regarded as the most famous condemna on of witches in the world, even though there have been numerous religious ‘puri ca ons’ throughout history that involved hanging and burning those convicted of witchcra . Today, Salem Massachuse s is seen as a historical site that tourists ock to every year, and is home to mul ple preserved historical loca ons, such as the Pickering House and Hamilton Hall, and museums dedicated just to the trials of 1692 and associated ar facts.
To the casual observer, pop culture has an infatua on with all things supernatural, spooky, and unexplainable. Our TV shows, movies, books, and art are lled with vampires, werewolves, and of course, witches. Witchcra has a long, storied history stretching back millennia to the earliest years of humanity. There are fun posts on Pinterest about how the Vikings supposedly considered mathema cs a type of witchcra , and thus their women were always in charge of household nances, and illustra ons on Instagram of women dancing in the moonlight in forests or on beaches.
The town of Salem and its unique history have inspired a mul tude of books, songs, TV shows, and movies, including the immensely popular Hocus Pocus by Disney. Disney has always been known for family-friendly content, being almost militant in their standards, so the crea on of a movie making light of evil witches back in 1993 was a bit surprising, and it did not perform well in theaters at the me. Hocus Pocus
The concept of the ‘digital witch’ o ering tarot readings, selling puri ed crystals, and crea ng resin smudge s ck holders has ourished in recent years. Where did this newfound glory in witchcra come from? Does our propensity for embracing the unknown in our media in uence our prac ce of witchcra or Wicca or paganism in this day and age?
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